Ore-reducing furnace.



PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1907.

J. T. JONES. ORE REDUCING FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 22, 1907.

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V T Y JOHN T. JONES, Oi IRON MOUNTAIN, MICHIGAN ORE-REDUCING FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 17, 1907.

Application filed May 22,1907. Serial No- 374,981.

To all whom'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JouN T. Jones, a citizen of the United States residing at Iron Mountain, in the county of Dickinson and Stateoilriichigan, have invented ancw and useful Improvement in Ore-Reducing Furnaces, of which the following is aspecitication.

I The object of my invention is to provide a novel construction of furnace to adapt it to perform the work of the method of reducing ore-which forms the subject of my concurrent application for Letters Patent Serial No. 374,980, filed on the 22nd day of May, 1907.

The method referred to coinsis ts, generally stated, in recovering the iron, manganese, copper, and the like, in the form of pure metal, from the ore containing it; in reducible condition, by passing through a column of the ore in'a finely divided condition and mixed with coke or other refractory material, in lump form, the hot products of combustioitfrom carbonaceous incl, preferably soft coal, to the exclusion of air and without melting the ore, as is the practice in smelting furnaces, wherein coke, lime 'and silica are commonly mixed with the ore, with the result of contaminating the metal with impurities, which is avoided by my said method. Further steps involved in the aforesaid method relate to distilling from the coal its contained hydrocarbons for admixture with the products of comlulslion from the coal on their way to the ore-stack, to augment the reducing action to which the ore is subjected; to promoting the combustion of thespent hot products for utilizing the Wasteheat in preliminarily heating the ore in the upper part of the stack; to cooling the reduced product in a chamber from which air is excluded, and

" to crushing the ore thus treated to a fine mesh to free it from the gangue preparatory to separating it therefrom by magnetic, gravity or other method of separation.

Referring to the accompanying drawing--Figure 1 shows my improved furnace by a. view in sectional olevation; Fig. 2 is a section taken at the line 2 on Fig. .l and viewed in the direction of the arrow, and Fig. 3 is a section like that presented by Fig. 2, but showing a modified construction of the furnace.

A stack i of suitable fire-brick construction rises, to a height of about one hundred feet, more or lcss, from the ground surface, at which it is provided, by preference, with a metal base 5. For this height of stack desirable dimensions for the walls are eighteen inches, and the same diameter for the interior. The stack, which contains a pohcr-holc (5 ucar its lowcr cud and air-inlet ports 7 toward its upper eudsay at a point about seventy-five [out above the ground level opens at its base into a close cooling-chambcr 8 iorincd in a v pit below the ground level, the height of which may be about twenty foot and the width about thirty inches. in the base of the cooling-chainbcr is indicated a rotary conveyor 9 for carrying oll the cooled ore after it has been subjected to the cooling-treatment. On one wall about twenty-fivo feet, more or 1 css, above the same, and

containing a fuel-chamber ll, the preferred diameter of which is about two feet. A grate 12 is provided in the lower part of the fuel-chamber, and below the grate is,

indicated a rotary conveyor 13 for removing the ashes, the firing being performed through an opening 14 in the furnace-wall, equipped with suitable removable closing means. A poker-hole 15 is provided in the front wall of the furnace, which is fed at its upper end through a hopper 16 containing a bell-valve 17 for the usual purpose; and the furnace-chamber is expanded from its upper end for some distance downward to allow for the swelling of the coal. About midway between the ends of.the furnace 10 it communicates with the stack through a passage or flue 18, of the preferred shape represented.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the structure is oi rectangular shape in cross-soction, the stack being sufiiciently wide for providing it with iour of the furnace-chambers ll, each having a flue-commuuieation 18 with the stack and being otherwise equipped as described of the furnaeestructure shown in Fig. 1. ltswill understood, however, that the structure may ht. A or more furnaces communicating with the stack. it is also feasible to construct the stack 4 in the cylindrical form rc pl'escutcd in Fig. 3, when the furnaces 10 would be erected at right angles to each other about it, as shown in that figure, the area of the interior of the stack being, of course, less when one furnace is provided and proportionat ely greater for each additional furnace.

To operate my improved furnace, the ore to be treated is introduced into the stack from its upper end thereby filling the stack and also the chamber 8, from which air is excluded. The fuel used in the furnace is preferably suit coal, the variety thereof best suiting my purpose containing about sixty per cent. carbon, about thirty per cent. of volatilizable hydrocarbons, and about ten per cent. ash. The coal is fed to the furnacechambcr through the lmp'per l6, filling that chamber, and is ignited through theopening 14, the fire being fed with air through a blast thereof admitted at a port 19 provided in a wall of the furnace-chamber below the grate. The fuel in tho.chamberllbccomcsand is maintained incandescent above the level oi the base of the passage IS, that portion of the bed which extends thence above that level being suliicioutiy heated from below to dislil ol'l' its containcd hydrocarbons, which are volatilized by the heat and mix with the gases from the incaudcsccnt incl in the flue is, thereby greatly enriching the gases and augmenting their reducing action in the st act; 4, into which they pass through the. line, rising therein through the ore in the stack. It is found to be mlvantageous to mix with the body of the ore supplied to the stack, which is very coarse, of the size of the fist, or'thereabout', smaller or finer lumps of the ore to reduce the interstices in the column accordingly and the better diffuse through it the hot products oi combustion which rise in the stack and by their ad tion exerted upon the ore eventually reduce the oxygen constituent thereof and leave the pure metal. At about the point in the stack atwhich the ports 7 are provided the products of combustion become so far spent as to render it advantageous to mix air with them, which is done through the said ports, with the result of promoting their combustion and adapting them to preliminarily heat the raw ore above that point,'whereby' the heat from the lurnace'or furnaces, whereby the motallic constituent'oi the ore is in the form of pure metal. In this lastnamed condition of the ore it descends into the chamber 9', wherein it remains sufficiently long to cool it before exposure to air; and it is thus prepared for crushing to a sufliciently fine mesh to liberate the metal from the gang ue'preliminary to separating the metal, as hereinbefore stated.

What I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is v 1. In an ore redu cing .furnnce, the combination of an ore-stack, and n curbonnceous-fuehhurning furnace nt'the base of said stack having a flue-connection therewith lead ing from the fur-nacechamber about midway between its upper and lower ends and adapted to conduct thegases from the incandescent fuel in the lower section of. said I from the chamber and the volatilizedhydrocarbons from the fuel in the upper part thereof into said stack and direct the products ofcombustion upwardly through the column of ore'therein to discharge at the upper end of the stack, for the purpose set forth.

2. In an ore-reducing furnace, the combination of an ore-stack having air-inlet ports in the.upper part of its wnll. and a carbonaeeous-fuol-burning furnace at the base of said stack having :1 flue-connection therewith leading about midway between its furnace-chamber upper and lower ends and adapted to conduct the gases from the incandescent fuel in the loweusection of saidchumher and the volaiilizcd hydrocarbons from the fuel in the upper part thereof into said stack and direct the products of combustion upwardly through the column of ore therein to discharge at the upper end of the stack, for the purpose set forth.

3. in an orereducinp furnace, the combination of un orestack rising from a base, :1 p below said base forming a closecoolihgrhamber imo which the stack'dischargcs and equipped with means for removing the reduced ore. a iurnnceexterior of the stack, having about midway be tween its upper andloiver ends a passage for the products of combustion into the stack, a coaHnu-ning grate in the lower part or the furnacechamher and an air'blast port in the will. of the furnace below the gratetherein, for the pin-pose set forth.

4. A li,orcieducing furnace comprisinppin combination, an ore-'stack rising from :1 base and provided in the llilllCPDOl'iiOl] of its wall with air-inlet ports, a. pit below said base forming a close cooling-chamber into which the stack discharges and equipped with means for removing the reduced ore, and a furnace exterior of the 'stack near its base and communicating therewith from between its ends; through a flue leading into the stuck near its base, said furnace huviiu. a valve-closed fced'hopper on its upper end and containing a coal-burning grate in its lower portion and an air-blast port below the grate, for the purpose set forth.

JOHN T. JONES.

In presence of L. IluIsnin, J. H. LANDi-JS. 

